Monday, July 10, 2017

The Associated Press
Published: July 10,2017
As
roughly 40 wildfires burn across the baking landscape of the western
U.S. and Canada, fire officials in California are telling residents they
need to leave immediately if evacuations are ordered.
The weather
is unlikely to make the battle against the blazes any easier, according
to weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. Hot and dry conditions will
persist through this week in Butte County, California, with temperatures
in the low to middle 90s and winds generally 5 to 15 mph. Temperatures
may soar to near the century mark by next weekend.
In California,
two major wildfires forced nearly 8,000 people out of their homes over
the weekend. Fire officials are warning residents in wildfire areas to
get out immediately if authorities issue evacuation orders.
Bennet
Milloy, spokesman for the state's Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, said Monday that officials had to send in three engine crews
to rescue a person who ignored weekend orders to leave as flames
approached mountain homes. Milloy says officials will always try to save
human lives, but the effort can sometimes drain resources needed
elsewhere. He says three engines can protect up to 20 homes.
The
Wall fire has burned nearly 9 square miles (23 square kilometers),
injured four firefighters and destroyed at least 17 structures, but that
number is expected to rise, fire officials said Monday.
About
4,000 people evacuated and another 7,400 were told to prepare to leave
their homes as fire swept through grassy foothills in the Sierra Nevada,
about 60 miles north of Sacramento, according to the California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The area burning was
southeast of Oroville, where spillways in the nation's tallest dam began
crumbling from heavy rains this winter and led to temporary evacuation
orders for 200,000 residents downstream.(MORE: California Heat Wave Kills Thousands of Cattle)
Resident
Chuck Wilsey learned Monday that his home in the wildfire zone is still
standing. He told the Associated Press that he's relieved, but
cautious, and is already planning for the next evacuation should it
come. He says he's keeping his trailer attached to his truck and telling
his daughters to gather prized possessions they couldn't get the first
time around.
Others were not as lucky. One home was gone except
for its chimney. Another was nearly destroyed, with gnarled appliances
and a burned-out car the main remnants.
The fire was 35 percent
contained Monday. It was one of 14 wildfires across California that
about 5,000 firefighters battled Sunday.
In Southern California,
at least 3,500 people evacuated as two fires raged at separate ends of
Santa Barbara County. The largest has charred more than 45 square miles
(116 square kilometers) of dry brush and is threatening more than 130
rural homes. It's 15 percent contained.
About 50 miles (80
kilometers) to the south, a 17-square-mile (44-square-kilometer) blaze
shut down State Route 154 and sent weekend campers scrambling for
safety. It's just 5 percent contained.
Amayah Madere told KCBS-TV
she was in the pool when a counselor told the children to get out and
change in a hurry. She said they waited in a dining hall while
firefighters fought the fire and the counselors sprayed down the area
with water.
"I prayed that if I didn't die I would go to church, and right when I prayed the firefighters came," Madere said.
Firefighters
here may get a little help from the weather, according to
Dolce. Somewhat cooler temperatures and increased humidity are expected
through the middle of this week thanks to the influence of the Pacific
Ocean. Highs in the 80s are likely with winds 5 to 15 mph.

Elsewhere in the West

The
fight against a wildfire that temporarily forced the evacuation of
hundreds of people near the resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado, is
winding down.
Firefighters had built containment lines around 85
percent of the blaze as of Monday, and residents of nearby homes were no
longer on standby to evacuate. Crews and equipment were starting to be
sent to other fires burning around the western U.S.
In Arizona,
residents who fled the rural community of Dudleyville, about 100 miles
(160 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix, over the weekend because of a
wildfire were allowed to return home.
Pinal County authorities say
the evacuations were lifted Sunday evening after crews stopped the
growth of the fire, which has destroyed three homes.
In New
Mexico, firefighters are mopping up a wildfire that sent up a tall plume
of smoke from mountains overlooking Albuquerque late last week.

British Columbia

Firefighters
were contending with more than 200 wildfires burning in British
Columbia that had destroyed dozens of buildings, including several homes
and two airport hangars. The three biggest fires, which have grown in
size to range from 9 to 19 square miles (23 to 49 square kilometers),
had forced thousands of people to flee.
"We are just, in many
ways, at the beginning of the worst part of the fire season and we watch
the weather, we watch the wind, and we pray for rain," outgoing Premier
Christy Clark told reporters in Kamloops.
Rob Schweizer, manager of the Kamloops Fire Centre, said it had been an unprecedented 24 hours.
"We
probably haven't seen this sort of activity that involves so many
residences and people in the history of the province of B.C.," he said.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report
on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science
to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of
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